Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1887-11-11
THE WILD HORSE.
MANS EQUINE FRIEND IN AN
UNFRAMED STATE.
Shooting Wild Horses in New South
Wales-Small Herds Still
Found i'm the West-Re-
duced TO Serytude.

Very young students, in their first
attempts at composition, often inform
us that the horse is useful animal.
This sweeping generalization is sub ect
to important notifications before it is
accepted in all communities. There are
many thousands of horses that toll not
like their noble progenitors, but 90 like
the wind where it liSteth, and are looked
upon 40 intolerable nuisances in the civ
ilzed regions they sometimes invade
Our Australian friends, for instance, are
no lovers of the horse in his unframed
state, and some of the co!onists set a
price on his head, and do all they can to
stimulate movements for his destruction.
Seven thousand wild horses were shot in
New South Wales alone in 1915. Thee
rovers of the plains play the mischief
with domestcated animals when they
come among them, and the colonists are
very much disguised to observe with
what ease the noble horse relapses into
barbarism, and, forgetting his oats and
the other comforts of civilization, runs
off with his wild brethren who have not
enjoyed his superior advantages.
1t must be confessed that our horses
need the restraints imposed upon them
to prevent them from disgracing their
ancestors, who were certainly domesti-
Gated when they were introduc ed into
this country. Years ago it used to be the
custom in our Southwestern territory to
brand the young stock and even many
work animals, and turn them loose to
q fOr fhaT,1aalun5 70
When they were wanted they were
always as wild as Mexican mustangs. Mr..
Powell wrote book on the best methods
of tanning wild horses. The specimens
on which he exerted his talents as a
tanner were for the most part formerly
dOmestiCated animals, who had forgotten
all about their old restraints while
wandering over the plains of our South.
western territory.
Travellers in the Western Territories
are no longer in danger of such an IT.
ruption of horsefesh as Murray describes
in his Travels in North America" He
not only witnessed a stampede of thou
sands of panic-strioken horses, but the
living torrent swept along toward and
over his camp, trampling skins and dried
meat into the ground, knocking down
some of the tents, and taking with them
all his horses except his riding mare, who
vainly struggled to break her fastenngs.
They still range, in much smaller herds
than formerly, on the plains of the Upper
Colorado; but the wild horse, like the
buffalo, is disappearing before the ad-
vance of the white man.
In spite of the experience of the Aus
ITALIANS, many people, chiefly savage,
have been able to tnrn the wild horse to
good account. Hundreds of thousands
of Mexican mustangs have been reduced
to servitude. The wild horse of the
South American Pampas, which three
centuries ago, only fifty years after the
horse was introduced from Europe, had
spread to regions as remote as Patagonia
has been tanned by thousands, and has
become the useful servant of Indian
tribes.
NatuEalists often discuss the question
whether there is now IN the world such a
creature as an aboriginal, or truly wild
horse. We know very well that the
wild horses of the western hemisphere
are all descendants of domesticated ami
mails. Where, then, is the aboriginal
wild horse to be found? Thequestion will
probablynever be settled. Mr.. }. II. Steel,
who recently read an interesting paper
On "Wild Horses" before the Bombay
Natural History Society, thinks the evi.
dence is in favor of the existence of the
wild horse in Central Asia. Gesner, the
great authority on zoology of the six
teenth century, was OF the same opinion,
but the evidence has often been ques-
toned, and the assertion cannot posi-
lively be made that the wild horse of
the great mountain region which the
Russians are now exp oring is not him
self the descendant of ancient domesti-
Gated animals.
Another question of scientific import
ance as yet unsolved Is whether two OF
three years run on the Pampas would
rejuvenate the average street Car plug,
develop the latent savagery of his nature,
and make a wild horse of him. If equine
liberty and freedom from human restraint
could achieve a miracle of such proper.
tons it would be very interesting news.
---Neao York Sun.